Study Guide in ENGLISH 9A – Anglo-American Literature English in Perspective 25-March-2022

(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

LESSON 8 (Unit I) and LESSON 1 (Unit II)

NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE and SHAKEPEAREAN SONNET

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this paper, you should be able to:

a. Discuss and understand the different characteristics of Native American literature

and the Shakespearean sonnet.

LEARNING CONTENTS

NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE

Background

It is thought that the first Native Americans arrived in what is now the U.S
approximately 20-30,000 years ago.
It is believed that they came by a land bridge across the Bering Sound, from Siberia
into Alaska. Although most Native Americans did not come from India, the name “Indian”
was given to them by Christopher Columbus who mistook North America for islands in
the Indies. When Europeans arrived in North America (16th-17th Century), there were
approximately 10 million native Americans living. The Europeans started to push Native
Americans off the land and take “Ownership” of the land for the rich resources.
Many wars were started in which the native Americans were disadvantaged because
of their lack of adequate weapons. This led to the Indian Removal Act by President
Andrew Jackson in 1830.
In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the federal government the
power to exchange Native- held land in the cotton kingdom east of the Mississippi for
and to the west, in the “Indian” colonization zone” that the United States had acquired
as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
The Cherokee Trail of Tears resulted from the enforcement of the treaty of New
Echota, an agreement signed under the provisions of the Indian Removal Act of 1830,
which exchanged Indian land in the East for lands west of Mississippi River, but which
was never accepted by the elected tribal leadership.

Native American Literature

Oral tradition- passed down from generation to generation by storytelling and

performances. Because of this, every storyteller would tell it differently. Stories were told
to educate, pass on culture, and as entertainment. Every tribe had different myths and
languages. This is why Europeans believed they had no literature and stereotyped them
as flat ad interchangeable characters.
Includes creation myths (stories that explain the beginning of the world), the tale of
heroes and tricksters, and the ritual song. Chants that were part of ceremonies. These
myths told how the world and human life came into existence.
Trickster Tale- Tells of an animal character with two sides: rebels who defy authority

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(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

and create trouble and curious, clever, creative figures who unexpectedly reveal wisdom.
Most emphasize the importance of living in harmony with the natural world.
The Totem Pole- Native Americans believe they descended from particular animals
or other natural objects and depicted their stories on these items.
Origin Myth- Explain how natural phenomena such as the stars, moon, and
mountains came to be or why society has certain beliefs and customs.

CHARACTERISTICS
Devices
1. Repetition
2. Incremental development
3. Ritual beginnings and endings
4. Specific structure

Functions
1. Beliefs about the physical world
2. Beliefs about social order and appropriate behavior
3. Beliefs about human nature and the problem of good and evil

Myths
1. Deal with the primal world
2. Beings are animal spirits in human form, monsters, confusion of nature-
Personified animals
3. Myths flow to legends

Legends
1. Culture hero brings order to the world
2. Hero turns animals into people
3. Flows into real-time

Themes
Formation of the world
Creation story
Theft of fire
Emergence Myths: beings come from under the surface of the world to its surface
Migration Myths: travel
Natural Events: Supernatural Phenomena

SONNET

What is a sonnet?
A sonnet is a one-stanza, 14-line poem, written in iambic pentameter. The sonnet,
which derived from the Italian word sonetto, meaning “a little sound or song," is "a popular
classical form that has compelled poets for centuries," says Poets.org. The most common—
and simplest—type is known as the English or Shakespearean sonnet, but there are several
other types.

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(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

Sonnet Characteristics
Different types of sonnets evolved in the different languages of the poets writing
them, with variations in rhyme scheme and metrical pattern. But all sonnets have a two-
part thematic structure, containing a problem and solution, question and answer, or
proposition and reinterpretation within their 14 lines and a volta (twist or turn), between the
two parts. Sonnets share these characteristics:

a. Fourteen lines: All sonnets have 14 lines, which can be broken down into four
sections called quatrains.

b. A strict rhyme scheme: The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet, for

example, is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG (note the four distinct sections in the rhyme
scheme).

c. Written in iambic pentameter: Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a

poetic meter with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed
syllables.

A sonnet can be broken into four sections called quatrains. The first three quatrains
contain four lines each and use an alternating rhyme scheme. The final quatrain consists
of just two lines, which both rhyme. Each quatrain should progress the poem as follows:

First quatrain: This should establish the subject of the sonnet.Number of lines: four;
rhyme scheme: ABAB
Second quatrain: This should develop the sonnet’s theme.Number of lines: four;
rhyme scheme: CDCD
Third quatrain: This should round off the sonnet’s theme.Number of lines: four;
rhyme scheme: EFEF
Fourth quatrain: This should act as a conclusion to the sonnet.Number of lines:
two; rhyme scheme: GG

Sonnet Form
The original form of the sonnet was the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, in which 14
lines are arranged in an octet (eight lines) rhyming ABBA ABBA and a sestet (six lines)
rhyming either CDECDE or CDCDCD.

The English or Shakespearean sonnet came later, and, as noted, is made of three
quatrains rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF and a closing rhymed heroic couplet, GG. The
Spenserian sonnet is a variation developed by Edmund Spenser in which the quatrains are
linked by their rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE.

Since its introduction into English in the 16th century, the 14-line sonnet form has
remained relatively stable, proving itself a flexible container for all kinds of poetry, long
enough that its images and symbols can carry detail rather than becoming cryptic or
abstract, and short enough to require a distillation of poetic thought.

For more extended poetic treatment of a single theme, some poets have written
sonnet cycles, a series of sonnets on related issues often addressed to a single person.
Another form is the sonnet crown, a sonnet series linked by repeating the last line of one
sonnet in the first line of the next until the circle is closed by using the first line of the first

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(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

sonnet as the last line of the last sonnet.

Types of Sonnets

1. Petrarchan Sonnet
The Petrarchan Sonnet is named after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch,
a lyrical poet of fourteenth-century Italy. Petrarch did not invent the poetic form that
bears his name. Rather, the commonly credited originator of the sonnet is Giacomo
da Lentini, who composed poetry in the literary Sicilian dialect in the thirteenth
century. They have 14 lines, divided into 2 subgroups: an octave and a sestet. The
octave follows a rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA. The sestet follows one of two rhyme
schemes—either CDE CDE scheme (more common) or CDC CDC.
To reiterate, here are the main characteristics of this sonnet form:

Structure: An octave followed by a sestet

Volta: Happens between the eighth and ninth lines
Rhyme Scheme: abba abba followed by cde cde OR cdc dcd

Sonnet 43, commonly referred to as, "How Do I Love Thee?" follows the
Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme of abba abba cdc dcd:

Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. (a)

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height (b)
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight (b)
For the ends of being and ideal grace. (a)
I love thee to the level of every day’s (a)
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. (b)
I love thee freely, as men strive for right; (b)
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. (a)
I love thee with the passion put to use (c)
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. (d)
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose (c)
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, (d)
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, (c)
I shall but love thee better after death. (d)

In this highly romantic Petrarchan sonnet, the speaker is enumerating the

many ways she loves someone. The octave stresses the all-encompassing love she
has for this person, while the final sestet—where the volta appears—presents a
subtle comparison between the speaker’s present passions and "old griefs," or prior
struggles in life.

2. Shakespearean Sonnet
A Shakespearean sonnet is a variation on the Italian sonnet tradition. The
form evolved in England during and around the time of the Elizabethan era. These
sonnets are sometimes referred to as Elizabethan sonnets or English sonnets. They
have 14 lines divided into 4 subgroups: 3 quatrains and a couplet. Each line is
typically ten syllables, phrased in iambic pentameter. A Shakespearean sonnet

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(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

employs the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Learn more about
Shakespearean sonnets.
Here are the main characteristics of the Shakespearean sonnet:

Structure: Three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet

Volta: Happens between the 12th and 13th lines
Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

Let’s take a look at a particularly well-known sonnet written by William

Shakespeare: Sonnet 18, or what is more commonly referred to as "Shall I Compare
Thee to a Summer’s Day?"

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (a)

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. (b)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (a)
And summer's lease hath all too short a date. (b)
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (c)
And often is his gold complexion dimmed; (d)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (c)
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; (d)
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (e)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, (f)
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, (e)
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. (f)
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, (g)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (g)

This eloquently written poem perhaps best encapsulates the Shakespearean

sonnet form. Here, Shakespeare compares the transient beauty of a young man to
a tranquil, warm summer day.

The volta, as we know, appears in the final rhyming couplet and is the point
at which Shakespeare confidently declares the young man’s youthful beauty will
forever live on—even long after he dies—through these very words.

3. Spenserian Sonnet
A Spenserian sonnet is a sonnet form named for 16th-century English poet
Edmund Spenser, who introduced this structure in his 1595 collection of sonnets
titled Amoretti.

The Spenserian sonnet is extremely similar to the Shakespearean sonnet.

The main difference is the rhyme scheme: whereas the Shakespearean rhyme
scheme introduces a new rhyme in each quatrain, the Spenserian sonnet carries
over the latter rhyme from the previous quatrain in a chain rhyme: abab bcbc cdcd
ee.
A Spenserian sonnet is a variation on the Shakespearean sonnet, with a more
challenging rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. Like both the Petrarchan and

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(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

Shakespearean sonnets, Spenserian sonnets are normally written in iambic

pentameter.

Here is an example of a Spenserian sonnet, written by Edmund Spenser

himself. Sonnet III is taken from Spenser’s Amoretti:

Sonnet III (Amoretti) by Edmund Spenser

The sovereign beauty which I do admire, (a)

Witness the world how worthy to be praised: (b)
The light whereof hath kindled heavenly fire (a)
In my frail spirit, by her from baseness raised; (b)
That being now with her huge brightness dazed, (b)
Base thing I can no more endure to view; (c)
But looking still on her, I stand amazed (b)
At wondrous sight of so celestial hue. (c)
So when my tongue would speak her praises due, (c)
It stopped is with thought's astonishment: (d)
And when my pen would write her titles true, (c)
It ravish'd is with fancy's wonderment: (d)
Yet in my heart I then both speak and write (e)
The wonder that my wit cannot endite. (e)

4. Miltonic Sonnet
The Miltonic sonnet was named for 17th-century English poet John Milton,
who is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.
While this sonnet form is mostly the same as that of the Petrarchan sonnet (it
uses the Petrarchan rhyme scheme of abba abba cde cde), Miltonic sonnets use
enjambment to offer a more compact, interconnected presentation of the thoughts
being expressed. (Enjambment is when a sentence, thought, or phrase continues
beyond a line in poetry without pause.)
“Miltonic” sonnets are an evolution of the Shakespearean sonnet. They often
examined an internal struggle or conflict rather than themes of the material world,
and sometimes they would stretch beyond traditional limits on rhyme or length.

The following Miltonic sonnet, titled Sonnet 19 or "When I Consider How My

Light Is Spent," is one of Milton’s most famous sonnets:

Sonnet 19 by John Milton

When I consider how my light is spent, (a)

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b)
And that one Talent which is death to hide (b)
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent (a)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a)
My true account, lest he returning chide; (b)
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" (b)
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent (a)
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c)
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best (d)

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(Course Code & Title) UNIT 2 – Literature Lesson

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e)
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c)
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest: (d)
They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Directions:
• Research on the internet about when and how William Shakespeare came
up with his collaboration of sonnets. Based on your research, create a
profile of the muse to whom the sonnets are dedicated. Paste some
pictures for your profiling. Do this in a google document.
• Ensure that the google document is attached as File Printout, i.e., the file
can be viewed in the Google classroom Assignment tab itself and does
not require the viewer to request access or download it; and
• Remember that output submitted after the due date will be given a 10-
point deduction.

REFERENCES

Gunther, E. (2017). Native American literature. In Encyclopædia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/art/Native-American-literature
Native American Literature | Encyclopedia.com. (2019). Encyclopedia.com.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/native-american-
literature
Native American Songs/Poems. (n.d.). Arcadiasystems.org. Retrieved March 24, 2022,
from http://arcadiasystems.org/academia/songs.html
What Is a Sonnet? (n.d.). ThoughtCo. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-sonnet-
2985266#:~:text=The%20sonnet%2C%20which%20derived%20from%20the%20I
talian%20word

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